Nina Pinzarrone: “Although I now skate in front of more spectators and my competitions are on television, I don’t suffer much from stress. I’m not easily made feel insecure”
Translation of Nina Pinzarrone’s comments about her strong sides as a skater, her career and goals.
original source: humo.be dd. 9th Janurary 2024 by Jan Hauspie
Here’s a translations of Nina Pinzarrones’ comments made in an interview with Humo.
“Cool, that people believe in me (laughs). I try not to think about it as much as possible; otherwise, I’ll be worrying all the time about what others will think. I shouldn’t do that: I need to skate for myself. I manage that quite well. Although I now skate in front of more spectators and my competitions are on television, I don’t suffer much from stress. I’m not easily made feel insecure,” said Nina about people’s expectations of her to win a medal at Europeans.
Q: Yu and Loena (Hendrickx – ed.) have already been called the new Kim and Justine, but on the ice.
Nina Pinzarrone: I don’t really know who Kim (Clijsters, ed.) and Justine (Henin, ed.) are. Tennis players, I believe, but from long before I was born, right?”
Q: They were often mentioned in the same breath, but they didn’t seem to have much in common. Doesn’t that also apply to you and Loena?
Nina Pinzarrone: We don’t see each other often. I think Loena is happy that figure skating in Belgium won’t stop after her, but that someone is ready to take over the torch.
My idol has already retired: Yulia Lipnitskaya, a Russian who I first saw at the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014. There was nothing she couldn’t do: breathtaking spins and jumps, flexible and elegant. I’ve never met her, but like for many others, she was my idol. I wanted to be like her.
Q: And a year and a half ago, you seemed almost lost to elite sport.
Nina Pinzarrone: In August 2022, I got injured right when I was moving up to the seniors. Two stress fractures in my hip, sustained on the last day of training camp for the season. From one day to the next, I was not allowed on the ice anymore. I wasn’t even allowed to walk!
Eventually everything worked out, because 2023 was one long highlight. It started with finishing fifth at the European Championships. Then I flew to Japan for the first time in my life, for the World Championships. That was also the first time I got to skate in such a huge arena, in front of spectators who furthermore knew me! Japanese fans wanting to take a picture with me, how crazy is that?
In the fall, the first Grand Prix followed. I was on the podium immediately twice! I barely knew what was happening to me. Thus, the Grand Prix Final was within reach, something which I had never achieved, even as a junior. Everything happened surprisingly fast.
Q: When did you realize you were better than the others?
Nina Pinzarrone: Everyone starts with the desire to be the best one day, right? I was about 13 when I felt that I could really make it. My sister Lily, who is two years older, started skating first. The ice rink was a two-minute drive away. I was in the cafeteria, saw her skating and got a taste for it. I was 3 years old (laughs). Ans (Bocklandt, ed.), my coach, immediately saw something in me. But with only talent, you are nothing, you have to work hard. I spend four hours on the ice every day, and additionally, I put many more hours into ballet training, cardio fitness, and stretching.
Q: However, you no longer have a permanent ice rink to train on.
Nina Pinzarrone: (nods) The ice rink in Wilrijk had to shut down: the roof was not in order. From one day to another, we had to find a solution. Often, I am on two different rinks in the same day. Often, I spend as much time in the car as I do on the ice. It’s a pure waste of time. Sometimes I study a bit, but mostly I am too tired and rest.
Q: What makes you so good?
Nina Pinzarrone: I rotate quickly in the jumps and spins. Being small is also an advantage: I am very flexible. I still need to improve in the artistic part, but that often only comes with age.
Q: You don’t have a lot of time. According to Loena Hendrickx, who is 24 herself, a figure skater is at her best between 16 and 20 years old.
Nina Pinzarrone: (nods) I can feel my body still changing. In any case, it’s not a sport you keep doing until your 30s. To perform it at 25 is already exceptional. Our careers are short.
Q: After every jump, you land on thin blades. Are you never scared?
Nina Pinzarrone: The first time for a new jump is always exciting: how will I land? But as soon as you have it under control, the fear disappears. Pair skating, where your partner throws you in the air, is something I will never do. I don’t dare. Actually, by nature, I am quite scared. A loop on a roller coaster? I’ve never done that. I suffer from a fear of heights. I also stopped skiing, but for a different reason: with skating, you open your legs, while skiing is the opposite. That’s not good for me.
Q: Figure skating also revolves around music. What does it say about you?
Nina Pinzarrone: Nothing (laughs). My coach and choreographer choose it. ‘Charms,’ by Abel Korzeniowski is the music of my short program. It comes from a Madonna film that I have never seen. And ‘Spartacus,’ the music for my free skate, I know only the ballet performance. It’s an intense story in which I play the wife of Spartacus and seduce men. To do that, you need some maturity. Certainly in the beginning, I had difficulty with that. Showing emotions is a matter of daring, and that’s not my strong side. Not even in everyday life: I don’t easily express my opinion, for fear of what people might say. I’m fairly sociable, but also shy.
Q: Your name has Italian roots.
Nina Pinzarrone: My grandpa on my father’s side is an Italian, my grandma is Spanish. They met here, and my dad was born in Belgium. He works for the European Commission, but don’t ask me exactly what he does: I only remember an office full of computers. I’m not interested in politics (laughs). My mom is from Brussels and teaches English at university. Her mom comes from a Dutch-speaking family, but she speaks good French. That’s the language we speak at home. I learned Dutch at school, English by watching Netflix series, and I started Italian at the European school, but I stopped that when I moved to the sports school in Wilrijk. That was the fourth grade. Until then, I had a school life and a life next to that, after that, there was only skating. Sometimes I wonder what my life would have looked like without skating. I would probably have been bored (laughs).
Q: What do you dream of?
Nina Pinzarrone: I prefer not to say. Not because I’m superstitious – I’m NOT that, nor am I religious, by the way. Rather because it would be a pity if my dreams then didn’t come true. I can reveal one: the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. The ultimate dream is to win a medal there. But of course, everyone dreams of that.
Related topics: Nina Pinzarrone
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